The Mystery of the Liberace Necklaces
by melody425
Summary: The CSI team investigates a robbery at the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino, but something goes terribly wrong! Chapter 10 some GSR, but also a character death. Please review! I don't own any of the CSI characters, or any other affiliations.
1. Necklaces and not Money?

The gunshots rang out like big church bells except without the beautiful harmony. They kept firing for what seemed like hours, amazingly enough, managing to miss the small poker table that Sara was hiding behind. She looked around her. There were bits of floor, ceiling, tables, chairs…and bodies all around her. She had no idea what had happened or where anyone else was besides him. She looked across the way through her welled up eyes. There he was. He was lying on his side behind the blackjack table with both of his hands covering up the horrendous wound on his right leg that insisted to keep gushing blood out not matter how much pressure he put on it. The pool of blood around him was getting bigger every second, but he never took his eyes off her.

_**Earlier that Day**_

It was typical day at CSI Headquarters; Sara, Warrick, Catherine, Nick, and Greg were all sitting around in the break room waiting for their usually late boss. Sara was eating an apple, Warrick, Nick, and Greg were all looking at some car magazine, and Catherine was in her own little world while filing her nails. A few minutes later their stoic boss arrived.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late."

A mumble of yeah's, whatever's, and various eye rolls erupted from the room. Grissom "pretended" not to notice.

"Okay, we all have one big case tonight."

"Oh joy," Greg injected.

Again, Grissom decided to ignore the previous comment.

"There has been a robbery in the jewelry store of the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino. Two very expensive, antique necklaces donated by the Liberace Museum were stolen."

Nick shook his head, "Why do Casino's even have jewelry stores?"

"They need somewhere close for people to spend their earnings, believe me," Warrick stated as a matter of fact. "Not that I do that anymore," said Warrick defending himself.

In a comforting tone Grissom said, "Don't worry Warrick, we know you're over that part of your life. Okay, now for assignments. Warrick and Sara you have the exterior of the store, Greg and Nick the interior, and Catherine, you're with Brass and I interviewing witnesses."

"What do we know so far?" interjected Sara.

"Well," sighed Grissom, aiming his answer towards the always eager Sara, "two men, determined by their height and weight, entered the casino with black masks and hoods. They immediately aimed their guns at the guards and made them lock the doors. They then tied up said guards and proceeded to the jewelry store where one held the cashier at gunpoint while the other broke into the glass case using the butt of his gun. Of course, an alarm when off, but the men had fled the scene by the time the cops got there five minutes later."

Sara nodded at his explanation, but kept her lips pursed together.

"Why did the perps only take the two necklaces? I mean, it's a casino. There are tons of stores with cash registers, not to mention the vault, and the money people simply had in their pockets."

Grissom nodded, "Very true, so money obviously was not the object."

"Maybe the necklaces had some special importance to the bad guys. Maybe they're working for someone, or are planning to sell them on the black market," Warrick chimed in.

"Those are good reasons," Grissom concluded, "but there are plenty more that are plausible as well. The real question is which one fits the crime?"


	2. The Creeping Blush

Catherine couldn't remember when the shooting stopped. All she knew was that she woke up to an arm draped over her middle. After summing up the energy to open her eyes and turn her head, she realized that it was the arm of fellow unconscious CSI Warrick Brown. Catherine tried to move her head more to look around for other people, but the pain was just too much. She decided to lay her head back down on the blood covered carpet and rest. She tried to think any minuscule detail that could help her remember what had happened, but couldn't come up with one, single thing.

_**Earlier that Day**_

After the CSI's had gone to their lockers and grabbed their coats and crime kits, they each jumped into one of two Tahoe's. Grissom, Sara, and Greg were in one, and Catherine, Warrick, and Nick in the other. Both rides to the crime scene were fairly quiet except when someone had a question about the case and they discussed it for a few moments.

In Grissom's car, Greg had fallen asleep as soon as they left the CSI parking lot and Sara had succumbed to leaning her head against the passenger side window and simply watch the world go by. As he stopped for a red light, Grissom decided to take a glance in her direction. As he did, he thought about their relationship. Now, they didn't have any real problems, but ever since Sara had made the daring move to ask Grissom out, things had been a little tense between them.

Deciding he couldn't take the silence anymore, Grissom decided to turn on the radio. As soon as the car filled with music, a new life sprung into Sara. She sat up and started moving her shoulders to the music. A few seconds later she started to sing. Now, Grissom had heard that Sara sometimes sang in the lab, but he had never gotten the chance to hear her, so he was currently enthralled in listening to her smooth, creamy voice as it sang Cher's "Do You Believe in Love." A moment later, Sara realized she had an audience. She quickly turned her head towards Grissom and started to blush when she realized he was looking directly at her.

"Sorry…" she mumbled.

He simply cracked a smile at her, "Don't worry, you have a lovely voice."

"Thanks," she said quietly and just as soon as that new life had fallen into her, it fell back out and she resumed her usual position of leaning her head against the passenger side window.

Meanwhile, in Catherine's car, things were pretty much the same. Nick was in the back seat listening to his iPod silently, and Warrick was looking straight ahead out the front windshield. Catherine was curious as to why Warrick was so quiet; he was usually a very talkative person. As Catherine thought about it, a theory formed in her mind as to why this was: the new wife. Ever since Warrick had gotten married to Tina, he became more distant and quiet to the rest of team, especially to Catherine. Now, Catherine and Warrick had never tried to express the feelings toward each other, but each knew the other held them in a special place. Catherine remembered the time that she was climbing up an incline and lost her footing, Warrick was the one to catch her in his big, strong arms, and…

"Cath?"

Warrick's voice pulled Catherine out of her trip down memory lane and back into reality.

"Yeah Rick?" she asked.

"How's Lindsay doing?"

Catherine laughed, "Oh about as good as a teenager can be."

"Yeah," sighed Warrick, "I really do not miss those days."

"Me either," agreed Catherine, "they were the worst for me."

A look of surprise came across Warrick's face, "Really Cath? Most people who say something like that have a problem today, like a paranoia of people from being bullied in high school. You seem to have turned out just fine."

Catherine felt a red blush start to creep across her face when Warrick said, "just fine." She focused her eyes back on the road to hide her embarrassment. After getting no response from Catherine, Warrick pulled the lever of his seat causing it to recline, deciding he'd catch a few "zs" before working the crime scene.


	3. Different Tunes

Nick never thought he would be in this position. He and Greg were huddled up together against the back of the bar in the little casino café. He had been collecting fingerprints from the countertop with Greg taking pictures, when the first shot rang out. Both he and Greg had jumped. All of a sudden, bullets started raining from the sky. One had hit Greg in the shoulder. Greg crumpled from the impact. Nick immediately dropped for cover. Poor Greg was screaming and writhing in pain, he was shaking so badly he couldn't hold his own hand over his wound, so in all the confusion Nick made his way over and wrapped his arms around Greg's shoulders. He put pressure on his little buddy's wound while the shooting continued. Within minutes of their embrace, Greg passed out. Nick moved himself even closer to Greg to support his weight. Nick can't remember when he passed out from shock, but he woke up in the same position he started in; in an embrace with young CSI Greg Sanders.

_**Earlier that day**_

The CSI's entered a casino full of chaos: people running around everywhere, police interviewing witnesses, police putting up "Caution: Crime Scene" tape, and forensic photographers already taking pictures. The jewelry store was quite close to the casino entrance, so Grissom could see how the two perps got in and out so quickly.

The CSI's all stood together for a moment to survey the damage and then without any words they all left with their partner to fulfill their duties. Warrick and Sara went to study the carpet outside the store to see if they could some prints, Nick and Greg went inside the store to study the broken glass case the necklaces were locked up in, and Catherine and Grissom went in search of their favourite detectives Brass and Sophia.

They didn't have to look far, the two tall detectives, one brown-haired and heavy set, the other blonde and slim stood out in their police issued vests. Easily spotting them could have also been attributed to the fact that they were both interrogating their witnesses in a very loud almost yelling manner. Grissom and Catherine exchanged a look that almost made them burst into laughter. When they reached their destination, Grissom was the first to try and make contact.

"So, Jim, what have we got so far?"

Instantly the brown haired cop turned on his heels and changed his whole expression.

"Oh hey Gil, Catherine."

At the mention of the two names Sophia whipped around to greet them.

"Hey guys."

Grissom and Catherine nodded their hellos to both detectives.

Brass continued, "Well we have tons of witnesses, but it's a pity that no stories match up."

Grissom looked shocked.

"Really?"

Sophia let out a sigh, "Yeah, everyone's singing a different tune. Some say they saw one perp, some two, and some even three. Some say they were in hoods, some in masks. It's hopeless."

Catherine spoke up next.

"Has everyone been questioned?"

"Pretty much," replied Sophia, "we have two more to do, but I think Brass and I can handle it."

"Okay," Grissom stated, "let's go check up on everyone and see how they're doing."

"Yeah okay," Catherine nodded, "but could you give me a sec? I had two cups of coffee at the lab."

"Yeah sure," Grissom laughed, knowing fully that she had to visit the little girl's room.

As Catherine walked away, Grissom decided to simply observe from where he was standing. From his position he could see Greg and Nick collecting fingerprints from the glass case and Warrick and Sara on their hands and knees looking for trace evidence on the carpet. Grissom let his eyes linger on Sara.

"Wow, she's really something," he thought.

Sara had always had good taste, but he especially liked her outfit today. She was wearing a pair of blue jeans with detailed pockets, a white sweater with a deep V-neck, and black dress boots that lengthened her already long frame. Her clothes hugged her in all the right places.

Without Grissom's knowledge, Catherine snuck up on him. She watched him for a moment. He seemed to be intimately focused on something. She followed the lines of his eyes over to Warrick and Sara. Now Catherine knew Grissom was not focused on Warrick. He was not Grissom's type, definitely her type, but not Grissom's. No, she knew exactly who he was staring at; the ever radiant Sara.

"Admiring something…or someone?" asked Catherine.

Grissom jumped at the sound of Catherine's voice.

"Jeez, Cath. You should know not to sneak up on me like that."

"Answer my question."

"What question?"

And with that Grissom began walking over towards Nick and Greg. Grissom had fully heard Catherine's question; he just didn't want to give her his answer.


	4. Mind Readers and Fast Thinkers

He remembered the most out of everyone. He was the one who first saw them and their guns when they entered the casino. He was one who shouted, "Everyone down!" He was also the one who wasted a few seconds looking around for Sara anxiously. Just as he set his eyes on her, a sharp pain coursed through his leg and he crumpled. Throughout all of the shooting, blood spattering, and screaming, he only kept his eyes on her. As he tried to put pressure on his wound, all he could think about was how horrible it would be if he never got to see Sara again.

_**Earlier that Day**_

Grissom watched the young CSI closely. He wasn't really a young CSI anymore; he had been a CSI for over three years now, but he was still the youngest of the group, so Grissom paid him extra attention sometimes. Greg was collecting a few shards of broken glass with blood on them that could be the break in the case they needed. If they could find the person who the blood belonged to, they'd either have one or possibly both of the robbers or a witness.

When Grissom had completely avoided Catherine's question, just as she had suspected he would, she simply shook her head and started in the direction of Warrick and Sara who were collecting footprints from dust particles in the carpet by using electrostatic current.

"Hey you two," Catherine said hopeful as she walked up to them, "You got anything?"

"Well," Sara replied, "we've collected four different sets of prints coming out of the jewelry store. Two could be our robbers."

"One set of prints," Warrick continued, "seems to be a woman's size nine sneaker, and the other three men's shoes: one a size eleven work boot, another size eleven, but most likely a sneaker, and the last a size ten work boot. Our guess is that either the woman's size nine sneaker and the men's size eleven sneaker were the robbers, or the men's size eleven and ten work boots were the robbers."

"We think," Sara interjected, "that the robbers would have most likely worn the exact same outfit in this situation in order to not be able to determine one from the other."

"Yeah," Catherine nodded, "no distinguishing features equals harder identification of the perps."

Sara and Warrick nodded sadly.

"Well, I guess I won't be making Lindsay's piano recital tomorrow night," Catherine said glumly.

"Oh yeah," Warrick recounted, "I forgot Lindsay had started piano."

"Yeah," Catherine laughed, "I told her that you could play exceptionally well and now she wants you to come over sometime and "jam" with her."

"Hey, I'd like that," Warrick smiled at Catherine as he said it.

"Me too," Catherine blurted out before she realized what she was saying.

"So it seems we're at a bit of dead end then with the footprints," exclaimed Grissom as everyone turned around to look at him, not knowing how long he had been there.

"I guess so Griss," Warrick sighed.

"Okay Warrick, why don't you go take a look at the security tapes from the last twenty-four hours and pinpoint exactly how many robbers there were. From the footprints and the majority of witness reports, it looks like two, but some people swear there were three or four."

"I'm on it," Warrick called back as he headed towards the head security guard who was being questioned by Brass.

"Cath, go help Nick and Greg inside; make sure they don't miss anything," continued Grissom.

Catherine nodded as she started to walk in the direction of the two younger male CSIs.

Grissom took a minute to look at his surroundings once more since it was easier to see now that most of the witnesses had been escorted out of the casino.

"So," Sara said, bringing Grissom back to reality, "what do you want me to do?"

"Oh yeah," Grissom responded clumsily, "a few witnesses playing blackjack say that they saw one of the robbers catch his foot on that poker table over there and then wrap his fingers around the table leg to help him get himself up…"

"You want to me see if I can get any useable prints from the table leg," Sara concluded for him.

"Yes," Grissom beamed at her, "exactly."

With that said, Sara about faced and headed over to the small poker table. Grissom watched her still with a smile on his face. He swore sometimes that she could read his mind. He just hoped that she couldn't read his mind all of the time because she would be astounded with some of the things he had come up with before.


	5. Living Through Blood

Warrick remembered the least out of everyone. He remembered that Grissom had told him to go to the security booth and look at some of the footage. Just as he had started to head over there, he felt a light touch on his arm which was a touch that was distinctly Catherine's. He and Catherine began exchanging subtle flirts over what could be on the security footage. Warrick couldn't remember how they connected flirting and security tapes, but they did. He and Catherine had danced a sort of flirting tango for years. Between her divorce to Eddie and Warrick's many pitiful relationships, they found comfort in flirting with each other. Warrick was just going to give Catherine yet another compliment when he heard Grissom's haggard voice yell something and then Warrick's world went black.

_**Earlier that Day**_

Grissom stood alone in the center of the casino. He surveyed all of the police officers and CSI's in action. He thought about how small and miniscule he was in all of this. Yes, he was supervisor of the night shift, but it would take his team, the other shifts at the lab, the lab techs, the detectives, the police officers, and the witnesses to solve this case. As Grissom continued to survey his surroundings, he noticed that Catherine was not at her post with Nick and Greg. He looked around a little more and spotted her with Warrick near the security booth. Grissom chuckled to himself at the sight of them. He and everyone else in the lab knew that they both liked each other. They also knew that Catherine and Warrick tried to hide to it, but it was no use. They would try to keep their glances secret, but someone would always see. They would also try to keep their flirting hushed, but someone would always hear. As Grissom was thinking that he should go over there and tell them to get back to work, a realization dawned on him. Did everyone know about how he liked Sara and how she liked him? Grissom's heart started to pound at the thought of this, but it was disrupted for a second when Grissom saw a bunch of men enter the casino.

"Who are they?" Grissom said aloud to no one in particular and that's when he saw them. He saw black, shiny, metal rifles under the men's trench coats. In an instant Grissom's heart started to pound again, but this time in terror.

"Everyone down!" Grissom screamed.

For a moment, Grissom just got wary looks from everyone since they didn't know what he was talking about, but then the first shot rang out. That first shot reached the ears of everyone in that casino. The next moment the casino was filled with more gun fire and screams as everyone hit the ground.

What everyone didn't know, was that Warrick Brown was the first to hit the floor because that first shot had just missed hitting his chest. Catherine Willows was the second to go down because after Warrick dodged the bullet, he hit his head on a nearby table and fell forward right on top of her.

The third and forth bodies to hit the ground were also members of the CSI team: Greg Sanders and Nick Stokes. Greg Sanders was the first one to be hit with a bullet, but he was only hit in the arm. At the sight of blood coming from Greg on the floor, Nick realized the true danger that they were in and hit the deck.

After Nick, everyone began to fall except for two people: Sara Sidle and Gil Grissom who were both looking for each other. Sara spotted Grissom first and tried to call out to him, but it was loud for him to hear her. All of a sudden a bullet whipped right by her head and her ears began ringing. She immediately collapsed from the pain of her ringing ears. Grissom was still looking around him and for a moment she didn't know why, but then it hit her that he was looking at her.

Grissom felt like his heart was going to explode from hearing all of the screams, and seeing all the blood, but mostly from not being able to see or hear Sara. Finally his eyes locked with hers. He forgot that he had asked her to print the poker table that was only a few feet away from him. Amongst all of the noise he managed to breath a sigh of relief, but that sigh was cut short by a scream, a scream coming from his own mouth as he felt the pain and saw the blood coming the bullet wound in his leg. He hit the floor with a thud, but amazingly never lost eye contact with her, and he saw how her expression changed from scared to worried as she took in his injury. He could tell from the look in her eyes that she wanted to be holding him at that moment, but she couldn't in fear that they would both would be killed. As he stared at her, Grissom began to only think about Sara, in order to combat his feelings of physical pain. He thought about how much he loved her hair, her smell, her laugh, her jokes, her clothes, but most of all her. He thought about how stupid he had been towards her by leading her on so many times and then cutting contact completely. Grissom thought that if they managed to survive this, he would tell her everything he had been thinking about during the reign of bullets. Grissom's thoughts of Sara were halted sometime later when silence filled the air of the bloody casino, but just as the silence came, it left, and a sound just as horrible as gun shots filled the air.


	6. Sound of Death

Brass woke up in a hospital bed. He tried to move, but found it hard to with all of the tubes and needles sticking out of him. His vision was blurry and so was his memory. He remembered something about a casino, two necklaces, too many stories, a black gun, and that gun hitting him in the head. Brass tried to keep his eyes open, but succumbed to sleep when a nurse entered and injected something into his IV.

_**Earlier that Day**_

The next sound that hit the ears of everyone in the casino was just as eerie as the strange silence that occurred after the gunfire. The sound they heard was the screaming of one woman and the husky voice of a man yelling at her to move over by a poker table. It didn't take long for the CSI's to realize what the killers were doing. They were separating people into different groups like most killers do in a hostage situation.

Grissom, Sara, Catherine, and Nick were all thinking the same thing; what if they were separated from their co-workers? Warrick and Greg weren't thinking these thoughts though, because they both were still unconscious. Nick was a little shaken up, but relatively okay, still being huddled together with Greg. Catherine had managed to get herself sitting up even though her head was still throbbing. She held Warrick's head and shoulders in her lap while she cried quietly and stroked his hair. Grissom's leg was still bleeding and he felt nauseous, but he still kept his eyes on Sara whose ears had finally stopped ringing.

The screams of men and women kept filling the air as the husky men moved the women into different groups. Each CSI tried to tune out the screams, but all ears perked up when a scream came from a woman whose voice they recognized. That voice came from Detective Sophia Curtis. No one dared to stick their head out in the open, so they all just listened intently as one of the men tried to make Sophia move from her position. Sophia, being the strong, stubborn woman all of the CSI's knew her to be, was standing her ground and yelling at all of the men. Suddenly, she fell silent when a single shot sounded through the air. Everyone jumped inside at the sound, but no one wanted to scream in fear that they would be the next shot. The CSI's prayed that the shot only injured Sophia, but they couldn't tell. No one wanted to look up in fear of being killed.

The shot had caused Grissom to jump, but he still could not pull his eyes away from Sara. He actually started to wonder why he was so obsessed with looking at her, but his thoughts ran short. Not even a minute after the gun shot to Sophia, a man walked through Grissom's line of vision, breaking his eye contact with Sara for the first time since the men had started firing. An unsettled feeling began to rise in Grissom's stomach as the man stopped in front of Sara. Sara felt exposed as the man stared down at her in a way she knew wasn't friendly.

"You're one of those CSI's aren't you?" he questioned in a strange voice. Sara only nodded.

"Get up," he said as he roughly pulled her to her feet.

"Let me a get a good look at you," the man said as he grabbed Sara's chin harshly. This movement made Grissom want to bash the guy's head in, but he resisted since he couldn't walk.

"You're kind of cute," the creep smiled. Sara's face remained a sheet of cold steel.

"Come on, you should play nice," the man joked as he tried to reach around to feel Sara's butt.

"Stop!" Grissom roared, but Sara beat him to the punch. The sound of Sara's hand slapping the man across the face shocked everyone in the room.

"You stupid slut!" the man yelled, "Johnny! Come help me out here!"

A man responded to the command and came over. He grabbed Sara's arms as the guy this time, tried to grope Sara's left breast. Just as his hand touched the fabric of Sara's shirt, he let out a loud scream and doubled over in pain because Sara had managed to kick him in the groin.

"That's it you little whore!" the guy roared as he pulled out his revolver and struck Sara extremely hard on the back on the neck.

"No!" Grissom yelled as Sara fell into a heap on the floor.

"You shut up old man, or you'll be next!" yelled the killer.

Grissom decided to use his brain and stayed quiet. He found it hard not being able to talk or move as he stared at Sara's lifeless form sprawled out on the blood stained carpet.


	7. Fragile Lungs

Sophia was paralyzed. She knew it. She could hear the beating of the heart monitor near her, but she couldn't talk, move, or open her eyes. Her whole body felt immensely heavy and cold. Her head throbbed and her body ached. She then heard someone enter the room. She tried again to move her tongue and her lips, but simply couldn't. It bothered her that the only thing she could do was listen, and that bothered feeling worsened when she heard the nurse say to her, "If you don't wake up soon hun, we'll have to pull the plug."

_**One Week Ago**_

Grissom's insides were screaming out for Sara, but his face was completely empty; void of any human emotion. He was in shock as he stared at Sara's still body. At first he didn't even notice the same creep move towards Sara. It was when the creep reached down to pull up Sara's shirt that Grissom reacted.

"Stop! Control your self!" was yelled out into the room, although not by Grissom, but by another one of the men.

"Sorry!" the pervert yelled back, "She's just so vulnerable. We could have our way with her."

"The hell you won't!" screamed Grissom as he got up and lunged for the jerk who was trying to hurt **_his_** Sara. Even with Grissom's bullet wound, which was still squirting out a little bit of blood, Grissom managed to tackle the guy.

"Get him off me!" the man cried as Grissom tried to scratch out his eyes.

"Fine…" sighed the boss man, "but you deserve it."

The head guy then pulled out a taser gun and stung Grissom in the back of the neck. Grissom immediately fell to his knees and then onto his stomach only a few feet from Sara. His right arm actually brushed Sara's shoulder as he fell and then came to rest on her forearm after he was unconscious.

The weight on her arm was the first thing Sara felt. She knew his touch; she knew it was Grissom's hand upon her arm. At first, she thought she was living out her dream of her and Grissom spending a romantic night together, but then she remembered the guns, the screaming, and the creepy man who had tried to touch her. Then she remembered what happened to Grissom; he had been shot! She desperately wanted to open her eyes to see if he was okay, but it felt like her eye lids were weighed down like lead, so all she could do was strain her ears to hear a familiar sound that would bring her relief. After a second, amongst all the noise, she heard the sound she desperately needed to hear; the sound of Gil Grissom breathing.

It was a shallow breathing. She could tell that he was struggling for breath, but any sort of breathing was better than none at all. Sara tuned out everything around her and only listened to Grissom's shallow breaths. Thankfully, as time went on, her worst fear didn't come true; Grissom's breaths, though shallow, did not weaken. Sara was almost at a kind of peace just listening to his breathing and not listening to the shouts of the men and women around her, until suddenly, she heard a pain-filled scream come from the mouth of her other female co-worker: Catherine Willows.


	8. Sudden Decisions

The thing that Catherine hated most about her current situation was not being able to hold Lindsay in her arms. She could talk to her, listen to her, and kiss her, but the casts on both her arms and upper torso prevented her from giving Lindsay a loving hug. There was a new person in Catherine's life though. A person that gave her and Lindsay loving hugs all the time. That man to be exact was Warrick Brown.

_**One Month Ago**_

Catherine's horrific screams of terror jolted Warrick out of his unconsciousness. He could hear her pain filled screams, but couldn't open his eyes or move! He thought he was paralyzed and started to panic! His head was screaming messages at him left, right and center, but all of a sudden his head shut up when he heard Catherine's tear filled voice pleading with a man. Then he heard two sounds at once; Catherine's scream and the sound of bones breaking.

Those horrible sounds were more than Warrick could bear. He used all of his strength to open his eyes. What greeted his eyes was a disgusting sight. A tall man in a mask had a chunk of Catherine's blonde hair in one hand and had her arm twisted behind her back in the other. Adrenaline rushed through Warrick and he lunged at the man knocking him back. A struggle ensued and Warrick and the mad man exchange blows.

In mere seconds, the man's gun flew from his hands and landed on the floor near Catherine's crumpled, crying form. She heard the clunk of the metal object on the carpet and lifted her eyes to it. Without hesitation she grabbed the cold death weapon in her shaking hands and aimed it at the heap of wrestling body parts on the floor. She wanted to make sure Warrick was in the clear so she wouldn't hit him, but she heard a raging voice behind her, most likely belonging to one of the mad man's goons. Catherine didn't have more than a second to decide. Should she go for it and possibly hit Warrick, or should she surrender the gun to a masked man and save herself from being a murderer? In one swift motion, Catherine made her decision. She aimed the gun up at the ceiling and let out a shot. The room instantly went silent. The next second, a booming voice Catherine didn't know she possessed, filled the room.

"ROBBERS! PUT YOUR WEAPONS DOWN OR I WILL SHOOT THIS MAN!"

Catherine aimed the rifle at the head of the masked man beside Warrick. Next, everyone heard the sounds of metal clunking against the carpeted casino. A masked man with his hands up came into Catherine's field of vision.

"Come on, lady. You don't want to be doing that."

"THE HELL I DON'T," Catherine yelled, "BUT YOU GUYS HAVE GIVEN ME NO CHOICE!"

"Okay, okay, just calm down ma'm. What do you want us to do?"

"WELL I WANT YOU TO LET EVERYONE GO, BUT FIRST I WANT GILBERT GRISSOM, SARA SIDLE, NICHOLAS STOKES, GREG SANDERS, JIM BRASS, AND SOPHIA CURTIS TO BE BROUGHT OVER HERE NOW!"

To Catherine's relief, she saw Nick slowly stand up holding Greg in his arms. Then she saw Grissom and Sara sluggishly help each other up. She could see them holding each other's hands tightly.

"WHERE IS CAPTAIN JIM BRASS AND DETECTIVE SOPHIA CURTIS!" Catherine yelled to the crowd of scared civilians and shocked robbers.

"They're both over here unconscious Cath," said Nick in such a hoarse voice she could hardly understand him.

"Are they seriously injured?" asked Catherine in a worried tone.

"I can't tell," Nick whispered back.

"OKAY," Catherine yelled, determined to get back to business, "I WANT…"

Catherine's sentence got cut short when she heard a loud bang come from somewhere to her right.


	9. Separate Events?

Sara thought she was still dreaming at first, when she saw that she was wrapped up in Gil Grissom's sleeping form, but then she saw that they were in a hospital bed and Grissom's leg was all bandaged up. Sara then felt her own head, which was throbbing a little, and noticed that she too was bandaged up. Touching her bandaged head was like releasing water from a dam. The memories of the casino hold-up flooded into Sara's mind. She remembered the blood, the screams, and the masked men, but mostly, she remembered Grissom kissing her cheek. Knowing that in her current state she needed rest, Sara let herself drift back into a peaceful sleep with Grissom being none the wiser of her awakening.

_**One Day Ago**_

"LAS VEGAS SWAT TEAM, EVERYONE DOWN NOW! WE HAVE THE PLACE SURROUNDED!"

Grissom and Sara both hit the floor with a thud upon seeing the armed men, their hands still tightly grasped together. Nick slid back down the wall still supporting an unconscious Greg. Catherine immediately dropped the gun in her hands and hit the deck beside Warrick. The armed bad guys surprisingly did the same.

The Swat team began arresting the creeps left and right. Warrick spoke up when one of them tried to haul Catherine up off the floor and arrest her.

"She was trying to save us when you came in!"

"I'm sorry Sir," the cop replied, "but she was holding a gun, so we have to take her into custody."

"She's a CSI!" yelled Sara.

"Its okay guys," whispered Catherine, breathless, and with that they escorted her and the other thugs out of the blood stained, beat up casino.

"Grissom," Sara pleaded, "we have to do something!"

"First," Grissom said in a commanding tone, "we need to get ourselves checked out. We both have some serious cuts and bruises."

"But Grissom!" Sara persisted.

Grissom then put his finger to her lips and kissed her cheek. This silenced her.

Nick smiled at the scene he had just witnessed. He then looked down at the limp body in his arms and realized how he should be honest about his feelings as well. Greg was a great friend, but Nick had never told him. Nick decided then and there that once Greg was awake, God willing, he would tell his little buddy how much his friendship has meant to him all these years.

Nick was pulled out of his thoughtful state by the feeling of a weight being lifted off of her shoulders, literally. Paramedics had started coming in and were immediately putting people on stretchers. As Greg was fastened onto the stretcher, his eyes fluttered open. He was going to speak, but Nick held up his hand.

"It's okay Greggo, save your strength. I'm coming with you. I'm not going to leave you alone."

Greg gave Nick a small smile of recognition and then his eyes fluttered again and closed.

Meanwhile, paramedics attended to Sara's bump on the back of her head, Grissom's leg wound, and Warrick's scratches from his fight with one of the thugs.

"You probably have a concussion," the paramedic said as he pointed to Sara, "you'll need surgery to remove that bullet," he directed to Grissom, "and you," he said to Warrick, "probably also have a concussion and should have an exam done to make sure there is no internal bleeding from your wrestling match."

"I'm fine," all three CSI's sighed at almost the same time.

"Yeah right," laughed the paramedic as he made way to help Grissom onto a stretcher.

"This must be hard on you guys," the paramedic continued, "two crimes in the same casino, on the same day, and the burglars from the first still at large and all."

Warrick and Sara were too stunned for words, but Grissom managed to squeak out, "What?"

"The Liberace necklace thieves have robbed another casino. The information on what they took hasn't been released yet, but I heard the cops talking about more jewelry on loan from a museum."

"Those guys who held us hostage weren't the robbers?" asked Sara.

"No, the police have had double duty trying to deal with both crimes. The only thing I know about this second robbery is that they've escalated."

"How have they escalated?" Warrick questioned, already knowing in his gut he did not want to know the answer.

"They killed two people this time."

Just as Sara, Grissom, and Warrick were registering this, they heard the police chief yelling to his officers, "GET IN YOUR CARS! WE'VE LOCATED THE BURGLARS AND ARE IN PURSUIT!"


	10. Justice Against Grief

_**Present**_

It was a somber occasion. Grissom, Sara, Catherine, Warrick, Brass, Sophia, and Nick were all huddled into a small hospital room. Grissom and Sara were in relatively good health, with Sara only having a bandage wrapped around her head, and Grissom's one leg wrapped tightly in dressings from where the bullet used to be. Catherine, who once got down to the police station and told her side of the story, got released, but was now in an upper body cast because upon medical examination had hairline fractures in three different spots on each arm. Warrick was the most unscathed, with just scars left from his scratches that he endured during his fight to save Catherine. Brass was still in a wheelchair as he was still weak and had not been released from the hospital yet. Sophia, who was also in a wheelchair, had thankfully, after eight days, woke up from her coma with no brain damage, but was unfortunately paralyzed from the waist down, meaning she would be using a wheelchair for the rest of her life. Lastly, there was Nick, who wasn't hurt physically, but was the worst hurt emotionally. Nick was sitting on the edge of a bed with puffy red eyes and a runny nose as he stroked the hair of his now deceased buddy, Greg Sanders.

Greg had been rushed from the casino to the hospital and upon examination was deemed to be in a coma. For three weeks, everyone sat around waiting for him to crack a joke, steal one of Grissom's lines, or flirt with Sara, but no sound ever came from his lips. At the three week mark, the doctors did another examination and deemed Greg to be brain dead. Greg's parents flew in from their home and signed the papers to have Greg taken off life-support.

It was a tough moment when Greg's parents announced their decision. Sara began crying hysterically into Grissom's shoulder, while Warrick punched the wall, and Nick just sat in shock. Of course, it was customary that his parents were the only ones in the room when it actually happened, but ten minutes later they left room and the doctor allowed all of the Crime Lab staff to go in together.

They each had their moment at Greg's bedside. Grissom was first and he bent down to hug the empty shell of Greg Sanders. He whispered in his ear, "You were my favourite CSI to train. You were always so eager and willing to learn. You turned out to be an amazing CSI."

Catherine was next. She stroked one of Greg's hands gently with the tips of her fingers that were sticking out of her cast. She said, "I will truly miss your smile and your laughter. Say hello to Sam and Eddie for me up there."

Brass was the next person to move towards Greg's bedside. The wheelchair restricted him, so he simply put his hand on Greg's arm and spoke softly, "You were the best CSI to work with. You always kept me laughing."

Now it was Sara's turn. She shakily made her way up to the bed. She was sobbing so much that she couldn't make out any words, so she just lent down and kissed Greg softly on the lips and hugged him.

Warrick then made his way to Greg's bedside. Warrick was sad that Greg was gone, but also angry that he was gone. He stated, "It shouldn't have your time yet man. You should have gotten married, raised kids, got to retire; anyway, I'll miss you and your Blue Hawaiian coffee."

Warrick's comment made everyone smile as Sophia wheeled herself up to the bed. She whispered, "When you were beat up by those kids last year, it broke my heart in two to see you. Now, my heart is fully broken."

Nick was the last one to say goodbye. He had been crying quietly in a corner while everyone else had said goodbye. He sat right on the edge of the bed and stroked Greg's hair. He said in a shaky voice, "Greg you were such a great friend to me. I realize now that I should have told you before, but I never did. You always did your work well, but also kept the mood light and cheery with your jokes and comments. I loved you as a friend and will miss you so much."

As the CSI's filed out of the room, so Greg's body could be prepared to go to the funeral home, they were met by a cop standing near the door.

"Hello there. I'm Captain Goode. I know that your all going through a rough time, losing one of your own and all, but I thought you would like to know that we caught the bastards who killed your friend."

"Thank you," Grissom said as he nodded.

"It turns out," Captain Goode continued, "that both groups were in it together. The one group that held up the casino was to distract attention from the other group. They were after museum jewelry because they were working for someone who wanted to start a private collection of precious jewels. That man has been apprehended as well. In light of the one death and many injuries, the judge has ruled that all men involved have life sentences."

"Thank you Captain," said Brass as he shook the man's hand.

As the Captain left the hospital, the Crime Lab staff all looked at each other. They shared looks of grief and sympathy, but also looks of happiness and relief since justice prevailed and Greg Sanders did not die in vain.

_**The End**_


End file.
